Given that Groupon’s promotion will last for 24 hours and span many more product categories than meals, you’d expect the numbers to be even higher.

The deal will kick off at 6 am CT tomorrow, and the vouchers will be good only for that day. Users can download the Groupon mobile application, or enter a zip code on the Groupon Now landing page to browse offers. On the site, there’s a variety of categories, including “Eat Something,” “Have Fun,” “Go Shopping,” “Exercise,” “See a Show,” “Get Pampered” and more.

Presumably Groupon is footing the bill for this promotion and isn’t expecting retailers and restaurant owners to take the financial hit.

Groupon VP for Mobile Partnerships Michael Shim said at an event on Monday that he expects the service, which went live in Chicago last week, to be a huge source of future offerings. Already, he said, they have had more than 1,000 merchants sign up to offer real-time deals.

“Mobile is huge for Groupon,” he said. “I believe we could see us doing 50 percent of deals sold/purchased in the next couple of years.”

The expectation with instant deals is that merchants and restaurant owners will be able to better manage the flow of patrons, and invite them in for a discount when business is slow, rather than doing a traditional daily deal that attracts visitors at all times of the day and week, no matter what the merchant’s level of need might be.

AllThingsD by Writer

AllThingsD.com is a Web site devoted to news, analysis and opinion on technology, the Internet and media. But it is different from other sites in this space. It is a fusion of different media styles, different topics, different formats and different sources. Read more »